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Subject:Career path in the third and fourth decades? From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Monica Cellio <cellio -at- pobox -dot- com> Date:Tue, 22 Nov 2005 10:32:57 -0500
Monica Cellio wondered: <<It's my impression that even the best
technical writers will hit a glass ceiling long before they complete a
40- or 45-year career, unless they adjust their careers away from
technical writing.>>
Since I enjoy playing devil's advocate, I'd like to challenge your
assumptions. First, most people no longer want to work 40 or 45 years.
Most people are going to try to get out of the full-time furrow after
30 years if possible. Remember that whole "Freedom 55" advertising
campaign? I hope to be semi-retired by then, but I love my work enough
that I doubt I'll ever fully retire. (See point three.)
Second, you're assuming we're all wage slaves. I used to be, but I feel
much better now. <g> Freelancers with a bit of low-down cunning
eventually learn one of two helpful tricks: to raise their hourly rate
until the quantity of work drops to desirable levels, or to bid so
carefully on a fixed-price basis that your skill lets you accomplish
the job far faster than the client expects, thereby vastly inflating
your effective hourly rate. Both are semi-facetious statements, of
course, but with a large grain of truth to them.
For example, I'm doing well enough now that I'm slowly firing my less
desirable clients (the ones that give me work I don't much enjoy) to
let me work on some of my own projects, and when I bid on fixed-price
projects, my years of productivity data let me estimate quite well how
long the job will take. That lets me set the hourly rate I want to
earn, multiply that by the number of hours, and give the client a fixed
price. This is an art form, of course; it never works as well as I
hope. But I do usually at least match my minimum hourly rate, and often
do much, much better.
But the biggie is number three: Why would anyone want to keep rising
throughout their entire working life? Only hot air, grease, and other
unpleasant things keep rising along with the rising water level. If you
love what you're doing, and are being fairly compensated, why not
simply accept "good enough"? Western culture tends to emphasize "I
always need more", but there's much more peace of mind to be had from
being satisfied with what you've got. That way lies a very different
and more satisfying form of wealth--plus, you avoid the Peter
Principle*.
* The well-documented notion that if you define yourself based on your
next promotion, you'll inevitably rise to the level at which you
demonstrate your incompetence. This explains pointy-haired managers and
most governments equally well.
Now, on to your actual question <cynicism>:
<<What changes in direction did you make to stay marketable while using
the skills you've acquired? I see a few possibilities. Many people go
into management, which works at companies large enough to have sizable
doc departments.>>
Management is always an option, and in that case, the sky's the limit.
This relies on the modern capitalist notion that those who supervise
work should be paid at least 100 times the salary of the people who do
the real work and earn the actual profit, and more if they can get away
with it long enough for the statute of limitations to expire. As long
as that notion prevails in our society, the only way to keep rising in
the food chain is to enter the management stream.
Since you raised the notion of glass ceilings, it pays to note that
there are a variety of them that can interfere with your career
progression even in management. Being female (even today, being part of
that visible majority often limits career progress), a member of a
visible minority, a member of an invisible minority if you're "outed",
or someone who is not politically astute (e.g., failing to learn to
play golf), among others. But at least the ceiling is higher.
<<For the sake of completeness I mention technical marketing and
sales.>>
Also good places to pad your retirement funds, particularly if you're
associated with a really hot product and get paid on commission. Plus,
these people tend to be far more politically astute than most other
professionals, and thus do a much better job of promoting their value
and getting paid accordingly. You can benefit from their clever
machinations by riding to richness on their coattails.
</cynicism>
One last non-cynical comment that bears mention: In my previous job, I
demonstrated my value sufficiently clearly to my bosses that they
reclassified me when I topped out. The classification for writers and
editors topped out well below the classifications for our researchers,
so they moved me into the researcher category to let me continue
progressing salarywise. (My replacement benefited greatly from my hard
work, though he had a few problems to confront that I left in my wake.
I _think_ he came out ahead on the deal. <g>) Not all companies will
allow this, but smaller and more flexible ones that really care about
their employees often do, and it's worth raising this point.
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